Greetings!
Welcome to this month's edition of the Marketing Newsletter. The economic message for construction being reported in the press continues to be depressing, but I think this is partly positioning to persuade our politicians not to cut construction spend after the election. There is no doubt that 2009 was a disastrous year, but if you look closely at the figures there are some positive indicators.
Many companies believe that the market is on the turn (although very slowly) and now is the time to invest in your sales and marketing, perhaps some training or updating your understanding of the market, remember Competitive Advantage is here to help you, just give us a call or send an email if you want some advice.
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| Construction Market Activity |
Figures relating to last year continue to be released confirming what a poor year 2009 was for the construction industry.
The Office for National Statistics latest release for construction industry output shows that the total volume of construction output fell by 11% in 2009. In the fourth quarter new work rose by 5% while repair and maintenance fell by 9%, this gave an overall fall of 1% in output for the last quarter of 2009. However there are some positive signs:
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Private non-residential, although down 34% in 2009, increased by 10% in the final quarter. Within this Commercial output fell by 8% in the last quarter.
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Public non-housing increased 27% in 2009, but an increase of 13% in the last quarter shows that output is slowing.
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Although new housing fell by 28% overall in 2009, the last quarter was up by 3%.
Figures issued by Communities and Local Government show that net additional dwellings in 2008-09 decreased 20% on the previous year and were the lowest since 2003-04. RICS monthly UK Housing Market Survey reported that 'most market indicators are still positive and consistent with further house price increases. However the magnitude of the gains going forward is likely to continue to ease reflecting the fact that new supply coming onto the market is starting to outstrip fresh demand.' So while things are positive, there are more properties coming onto the market which may slow price increases.
Perhaps the most positive news released this month was the announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change of their paper " Warm Homes, Greener Homes, A strategy for Household Energy Management" or "Pay as You Save" as it has come to be known. The DECC says that it could create £6 billion of retrofit work over the next 10 years. The Federation of Master Builders estimate that there is a potential £6.5 billion per annum of work, so this is just a start but various initiatives seem to be opening this potential source of work. |
| Develop your Skills |
During April I will be running my popular open training courses, held at the Building Centre in London. The programme covers a range of sales and marketing subjects. For new recruits to construction, Construction Industry Overview gives an introduction to what is a complex industry, explains how it evolved into its current structure, the segments and drivers. For those new to sales we have Construction Industry Sales Skills which introduces the basic sales skills, but in a construction context. At a more advanced sales level Key Account Management and Effective Specification Selling which look at two core aspects of developing business in the construction industry. Although primarily designed for sales people, those in marketing and general management would also benefit from attending these. Marketing in the Construction Industry presents marketing within the context of the construction industry explaining some of the unique aspects for our industry. If you are interested in the sustainable sector (and you should be) we have a half day seminar, Marketing Building Products into a Sustainable Market, which looks at how to maximise the commercial benefits from sustainability.
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| Do you sell to Housebuilders? |
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If you sell into the Housing Sector you need our report Housebuilder Watch. We are about to start research on the next edition, the report is available in a standard format for £250 or for £500 you can ask private developers and RSLs your own question which we will report exclusively to you, but to be included we need to hear from you before the end of the week.
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| Exhibiting |
At the start of the month we had Ecobuild which continued its growth in popularity. It will be interesting to see if it is able to maintain this when it transfers to ExCeL next year. We also have the rebranding of Interbuild as BEST in October, will the new name and look help it regain its place as the leading UK construction exhibition?
If you are thinking about exhibiting there are a couple of useful articles recently published. Have a look at the notes by Rick Osman on what makes a good and bad exhibition from CIMCIG's Ecobuild walkabout. Or read Ridgemount PR's 10 point plan.
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